Dinosaur Footprint Reported Stolen In July Still Missing

February 03, 2012|By KATHERINE OGDEN, Special to the Courant, The Hartford Courant

PORTLAND —

For nearly two decades, Mike Meehan has carved chocolate-colored rock from the fossil-rich brownstone cliffs here along the Connecticut River, drawing the interest of schoolchildren, rock hounds and geologists.

So when a stranger dropped by the riverfront quarry in mid-July and asked to see one of Meehan's treasures, a 170 million-year-old dinosaur footprint known as Eubrontes, he welcomed the man the same way he had the many others. The quarryman showed the visitor the roughly 18-by-18-inch stone bearing the track of the prehistoric creature, sharp toenails and all.

"We've always kept our doors open," said Meehan, 62, of Cheshire, the owner of the Portland Brownstone Quarries. "I've showed that print to hundreds of people."

On this summer day, the stranger identified himself as a member of the "Meriden Rock and Mineral Club." The man also used some real names Meehan knew in the rock-collecting world. He told Meehan he was building a wall for his girlfriend, and needed a few more pieces. A dinosaur footprint was just what he needed, he said, to complete the project. Could he buy one?

But the visitor would leave disappointed. The fossil was not for sale.

The next day, it was lunchtime before Meehan took note of the empty space where the stone had been, near the door of the modest trailer where he keeps his office. He guesses that the thief used an oil pan to drag the 150-pound stone under his front gate, where there was a gap large enough for a man to fit.

"I still get mad every time I think about it," said Meehan.

"Can I say for certain he stole it? No. I'll let the odds point that way."

Like many of the quarrymen who came before him, Meehan has pulled dozens of dinosaur prints from the ledges of the quarry he mines for brownstone. Often, the prints are of poor quality, because porous sandstone is not a great way to preserve an imprint over the eons.

The stolen print, with the two sharp claws clearly evident, was different.

"This was a particularly nice one," Meehan says.

Meehan — a geologist, former coal-mining engineer and former teacher — estimates the value of the print at $1,500 to $4,000.

He reported the theft to the Portland police and, though six months after the theft the trail has gone somewhat cold, the investigation continues.

"Any new leads I learn, I definitely will follow up," said Officer Dan Knapp.

As for the Meriden rock club, officially the Lapidary and Mineral Society of Central Connecticut, that group is just as baffled as Meehan about the visitor who claimed membership. After hearing about the theft, the club immediately notified its members to be on the lookout for information about the print.

"We have no idea who that person might be," said Harold Moritz, bulletin editor for the club. "We didn't send anyone there. We'd very much like to help solve this."

Named the official Connecticut State Fossil by the legislature in 1991, Eubrontes — the name of the footprint, not a dinosaur — can be found by the thousands at Dinosaur State Park in Rocky Hill.

Scientists still don't know what kind of dinosaur made the tracks, but many think it may have been similar to Dilophosaurus that roamed the Earth during the early Jurassic period, about 193 million years ago and popularized in the 1993 movie Jurassic Park.